Cardiometabolic risk may develop from a cluster of factors that can lead people to develop cardiovascular disease and/or type 2 diabetes. Main risk factors are abdominal obesity, high triglycerides (bad cholesterol), low HDL cholesterol level (good cholesterol), insulin resistance, elevated glucose and high blood pressure. The compounds produced by the process of the present invention are useful in the treatment of these conditions as adjuvants to diet and exercise and/or any other medically recognized therapeutic scheme for the treatment of obese or overweight patients with associated risk factors such as type-2 diabetes or dyslipidemia.
From a review of the relevant prior art, it is known that a compound of formula (I) can be prepared by the action of N-aminopiperidine on a functional derivative of the acid:

This synthetic process is disclosed in particular in patent EP 0 656 354 B for the preparation of rimonabant. A method for the treatment of patients with cardiometabolic risk factors such as obesity and smoking cessation is disclosed therein utilizing a functional derivative of the compound, for example, the alkyl ester or the acid chloride. This disclosure is also hereby incorporated by reference.